Batty Breaks Collegiate Indoor Mile Record in New York

NEW YORK CITY-With an unbelievable time of 3:54.54, Miles Batty broke the indoor collegiate mile record by almost half a second on Saturday night at the 2012 Millrose Games, which took place at the Armory Track & Field facilities in New York City.

"I was really happy to get the record," Batty said. "It's been a big goal of mine for quite awhile. I wasn't in the best position for the first half of the race and was boxed in against the rail, but I just had to be patient and make passes when things opened up. I probably wasted a lot of energy fighting for position, so I would have liked to have gone a bit faster, but I was happy with the race."

Batty, a senior from Sandy, Utah, was invited to participate in the 2012 Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games with the intentions of breaking the indoor mile collegiate record of 3:55.02, set by German Fernandez of Oklahoma State in 2009. Six collegiate runners were invited to participate in the race, along with other professional runners.

Batty took second in the race, finishing behind Matthew Centrowitz, a professional runner sponsored by Nike, who broke the Armory record with a time of 3:53.92.

With the fastest time in the nation, Batty is now qualified for the Indoor National Championships which will be held in Nampa, Idaho, March 8-10, where he looks to defend his title in the mile and his joint title in the DMR.

While Batty was breaking records in New York, the rest of the BYU men’s track and field team was split between the Husky Classic in Washington and the Air Force Invitational in Colorado.

“We didn’t do quite as well as we hoped this weekend, but we still had some good performances,” men’s head coach Mark Robison said. “We look forward to the week off and then it’s all about preparing for the MPSF championships.”

In Washington, the distance runners were able to run against good competition, and some pulled away with top ten finishes.

Rex Shields finished seventh and ran a personal best in 3000m Invite, with a time of 7:53.69, while Alden Bahr pulled away with a first place finish in the 5000m, finishing in 13:58.72.

In the 200m, Jason Hinds and Fanfan Charles finished top ten, with Hinds finishing third, in 21.84, and Charles taking tenth, posting 22.17.

James McAllister finished seventh in the 400m Invite, finishing in 48.48, and Shaquille Walker secured second place in the 800m, matching his fastest time of 1:51.05.

At the Air Force Invitational, the field events dominated.

Brayden Bringhurst and Tyler Brown took third and seventh in the pole vault, clearing 5.10m (16-08.75) and 4.90m (16-00.75) respectively.

BYU also had two top-ten finishers in the high jump, with Dakoda John taking third with a jump of 2.05m (6-08.75) and Russell Nielson finishing ninth, clearing 2.00m (6-06.75).

Kevin Nielsen finished seventh in the long jump, posting 6.94m (22-09.25), the furthest distance of any BYU long jumper this season, and Kyle Mills also finished seventh in the triple jump, with a jump of 14.62m (47-11.75).

The Cougars will not compete again until the MPSF championships on February 24-25. It will mark the first time the BYU has competed in the MPSF championships after 12 seasons in the Mountain West Conference.